Social Observation At The Harem Restaurant

Alicia Garcia-Portee
Psych 200
Fri. 12:10pm

Social Observation/Comparison Assignment I choose to do my observing at two very active locations, just because I wanted to observe a wide variety of different people in two totally different situations. One was at the Harem nightclub in downtown Lansing, and the other was at GoWorkout, the gym I workout at. The reason I say two totally different situations is because at the nightclub most people are intoxicated, most are single, young people, out looking to have fun and let loose, and potentially find love or companionship. On the other hand, at the gym, there is no alcohol present, the age range is from 16-65 years old, and most people are there to concentrate on working out and getting there bodies in shape, and some are there to compete.
At the nightclub it was very interesting because there was a lot of activity going on so I decided to focus my attention on a group of people standing near me at the bar that had came in after me.
They did not seem to be intoxicated when they walked in. It was a mixed group of people about 4 males 3 females. None of them seemed to be in a relationship with one another. They began drinking and about 45 minutes to an hour after, they began to seem like they were loosening up a little. The ones that weren’t dancing began to dance a little, and they began to talk a lot louder. When they talked to one another they began to lean in towards each other and yell in each others ear when it wasn’t even necessary to yell that much. No one made eye contact with one another, instead their eyes became somewhat unfocused. A little while later two of them began dancing with each other and it looked like they were flirting, Maybe after all they were the couple in the
group. At my other location which was at the gym, It was a lot more relaxed setting. I liked watching people in the bars but at the gym was fabulous. There were bright lights and no alcohol to disturb my observing skills. I could concentrate on more than just one group of people. Socializing in this environment was minimal to none. Everyone basically keeps to themselves. A lot of people try to avoid being to close to another person. For instance on the treadmills or elliptical, no one gets on a machine right next to another person, if there is one down from somebody else that’s the one a person usually will take before one right next to somebody. Then their are the big huge body builder men that are all down at one end of the gym basically competing with one another. All of them either on the bench or the free weights, looking in the mirrors at “themselves”. But every time one got done with one set of weights to move up to heavier ones the guy next to him would automatically get up and get weights 2x heavier than ones he just had. It seems like they were more concerned with “how much they can lift” then of the effectiveness of the actual exercise. In Conclusion, I believe that in our daily lives we all project a different image of ourselves, to our friends, our family, our neighbors, our teachers; and to others. They project as a safety net, so that we can protect what is truly valuable, ourselves. We show our true side to a select few. Seeing as we are emotional beings we do not wish to get hurt. That’s why we keep these emotions inside so they wont be judged and possibly ridiculed by them.